Israel the 51st state

Ha'aretz ^ | 16 January 2006 | Bradley Burston

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Israel the 51st state
By Bradley Burston

There was a time when Israelis would routinely refer to this place as the 51st State. Only half in jest.

It was a long time ago, when Israelis still spoke of America with the same wistful reverence they reserved for talking about heaven, and for many of the same reasons.

America was more concept than destination then, a fictional place free of the realities of Israeli daily life. No death, no taxes, no terrorism, no call-ups orders for military reserve duty to occupy Arabs and face down their suicide bombers.

Fine free public schools. Safe streets. Freedom from bureaucracy, freedom from intrusion, freedom from suspicion as a person of Mediterranean aspect.

This was the time, the decade or so following the Yom Kippur War, in which Ben-Gurion Airport, kept enlarging its Departures area, and decreasing the space allotted to Arrivals. A bad sign.

Israelis no longer joke about being 51st state. These days, the concept is seldom bandied about at all. Perhaps, having gotten to know the millennial America better, Israelis no longer fantasize about it coming true. Or because, without their realizing it, in some ways it actually has come true.

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Israel has 37% of the world's Jews, the US has 46%, according to 2001 estimates. If Israel became the 51st state, then 83% of the world's Jews would be US citizens. Jewish demographics